A Woman's Secret
Lately, Amora had been teasing me more and more.
Pfft, fufufu...! Oh dear. I really have gotten hooked on teasing you, Captain.
...Apparently, she hadn't been kidding when she said that.
Of course, her jests were never dangerous or elaborate, just meant to mess with me.
For example...
Welcome home!
...Did I leave the door open when I left home?
Oh my, why are you looking at me like that?
I'm simply giving my husband a perfectly ordinary welcome home.
It's only proper for the wife of Count Stranis, after all.
...What?!
Would you like dinner first, or a bath?
Or perhaps...
Instinctively, I covered Amora's mouth.
...Pwah! I'm joking, I'm joking.
More importantly, Captain... Do you realize your face is bright red right now?
Why are you staring at me like that?
Captivated by my beauty?
Mmm... I understand. It must be surprising to see a mother looking this young and fresh.
...Fufu. Would you like me to tell you my little secret, Captain?
...What is it?
Amora leaned in until I could feel her breath.
Then, in a soft whisper...
She blew gently into my ear.
The truth is, there is no secret. Fufu!
That tickles...!
As expected of Amora, she knew just how far to push her teasing without crossing the line.
If she'd actually crossed it, at least I could've complained...!
Still, as the Journey Captain, I couldn't keep letting her get the better of me.
Then, a good idea hit me.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I'd give Amora a taste of her own medicine!
So today, I decided to pay her a surprise visit.
All right, let's go!
I held my breath and flung the door open.
...Who...?
When I opened the door, I found Amora with a facial mask on.
As expected of Amora. She didn't even flinch in a situation like this...!
...C-Captain?!?!
Oh, wait, never mind... She was surprised. It just took her a second to realize it was me.
...So someone who hadn't even flinched at an assailant was startled by my sudden presence?
You can't just barge in without knocking!
Amora hurriedly got to her feet and pushed me out.
Kyaah?!
*Thud*
Her arm caught the table, sending everything on it tumbling to the floor.
Let me help you...!
I immediately bent down and started picking up the fallen items.
As I did, the product names naturally caught my eye.
Bouncy Beauty Health Supplement.
Beautiful Liar Foundation.
And... uh...
New Lavistar Moisturizing Sensitive Deep Clean Facial Foaming Cleansing Water...?
Wait, I thought you said you didn't have any secrets to looking so—
GET OUT!!!
...Wow.
I can see why she threw you out!
It's basic manners not to barge into a lady's room, you know?
But... Amora does it to me all the time...
That doesn't make it okay!
O-okay...
*Sigh* To think you'd break such a taboo...
I think this calls for a special apology!
Yes! For example...! You could show you mean it by gifting her some trendy cosmetics!
As it happens, I have a VIP membership at a nearby shop.
And if you buy two or more items, you get a whopping 20% discount...
Don't get any ideas!
Tch.
Still, giving Amora cosmetics as a gift didn't seem like a bad idea.
I could apologize for last time and thank her for everything she'd done.
And there was no doubt Lisa knew her cosmetics.
As long as I kept Lisa's own stuff off the checkout counter, there was no harm in letting her help.
With Lisa's help, I managed to buy the popular Moonlight Cream.
...You prepared a gift for me?
I wanted to apologize for what happened.
Ah, you needn't worry about that.
I was simply startled and overreacted a little.
...It was probably better not to ask why she'd been so startled.
And I have a lot to thank you for too.
Oh my, is that so?
How sweet of you... when I'm the one who's been relying on you.
Still, hmm... Since you went to all the trouble of preparing something for me, Captain...
Shall we see what it is?
I handed Amora the Moonlight Cream.
...!
Isn't this Moonlight Cream?
It's so hard to find these days...!
...Wow, Captain!
Seeing how happy Amora was, I—
Who did you go with?
—started thinking I'd made the right choice getting her a gift... Huh?
You went shopping with another woman, didn't you?
H-huh...?
Without even telling me, at that.
How... troublesome.
To think you showed another woman a side of you that even I don't know...
...If you keep acting like that, Captain, I might...
Get jealous, you know?
...
You startled me!
Ahaha! Captain, really... How many times are you going to fall for the same trick?
To be fair, I couldn't really blame myself this time. After all...
You knew Lisa helped me...
Ah, that?
I was only making an educated guess.
It's not as though you're interested in cosmetics yourself.
And you don't exactly have any male friends who know much about them either...
So naturally, I'd conclude that you went with a woman, wouldn't I?
Fufu. Though I didn't know it was that Observer.
Only then did I let out a sigh of relief.
It's a little early to relax.
I could genuinely be jealous, you know.
I was starting to lose track of where the teasing ended...
...Ah. Come to think of it, I haven't properly thanked you.
Thank you, Captain.
Just knowing you went out of your way to prepare a gift for me makes me happy.
I mean that sincerely.
I'm glad you like it...
Mmm, of course.
The part about getting jealous was sincere too.
...Really?
...Maybe? Fufu.
Amora's teasing didn't stop after that day.
And every single time, I couldn't help falling for it...